United
States
Secretary
of
the
Treasury
Scott
Bessent
is
a
totally
relatable
guy.
He
went
to
Yale
and
then
made
hundreds
of
millions
of
dollars
running
hedge
funds.
Just
another
working
class
stiff
trying
to
get
through
the
week,
am
I
right?
While
speaking
to
The
Associated
Press
last
week,
Bessent
decided
to
lecture
us
plebeians
about
how
we
only
have
our
own
stupidity
to
blame
for
our
financial
insecurity.
“There
are
a
lot
of
young
people,
mostly
young
men,
going
to
blue-collar
construction
jobs,
playing
the
lottery,”
said
Bessent.
“It
drives
me
crazy.”
Really?
People
playing
the
lottery
is
what
drives
you
crazy
about
America’s
economic
system?
Well,
sh*t,
here
I
thought
maybe
it
was
the
corrupt
billionaires
plundering
our
democracy
who
had
to
shoulder
some
of
the
blame
for
nothing
being
affordable,
but
I
guess
we’d
all
be
thriving
capitalists
like
Bessent
if
only
we
could
somehow
resist
our
base
urge
to
shell
out
two
bucks
for
a
Powerball
ticket
in
order
to
daydream
for
five
minutes
about
having
a
life
in
which
needing
to
pay
for
a
dental
appointment
didn’t
mean
seven
straight
meals
of
ramen.
“The
best
thing
you
can
do
is
not
play
the
lottery,”
Bessent
went
on
before
finally
getting
to
something
that
wasn’t
so
insultingly
pedantic.
Instead
of
playing
the
lottery,
he
advised
people
to
invest
and
“then
watch
it
grow.”
Now,
no
one
is
a
stronger
advocate
than
me
for
regular
people
saving
and
investing
wisely
in
low-cost
index
funds,
in
particular
if
you
are
holding
these
types
of
mutual
funds
in
a
tax
advantaged
Roth
retirement
account.
In
fact,
one
of
my
very
first
Above
the
Law
columns
nearly
eight
years
ago
was
about
this
very
subject.
However,
I
hate
to
break
it
to
you
ladies
and
gentlemen,
but
if
your
choice
is
a
two-dollar
Powerball
ticket
per
week
or
investing
those
two
dollars
in
the
stock
market,
it’s
really
no
choice
at
all.
Two
dollars
per
week
is
a
functionally
meaningless
amount
of
money
to
invest.
Congratulations,
by
saving
$104
per
year
your
portfolio
will
grow
big
enough
to
be
wiped
out
by
paying
for
the
first
doctor’s
visit
of
your
retirement.
Just
buy
the
damn
lottery
ticket.
Obviously
people
should
save
for
the
future
and
invest
in
a
way
that
will
result
in
the
highest
returns
possible
at
a
minimum
of
expense.
That
being
said,
Bessent’s
comments
about
the
lottery
don’t
have
any
connection
to
this.
I
suppose
there
are
a
few
people
out
there
who
really
are
spending
thousands
of
dollars
a
year
on
the
lottery.
If
you
are
one
of
those
people,
I
sincerely
doubt
you’re
reading
my
column,
but
just
in
case
one
of
you
squeaked
in
somehow,
yeah,
get
some
help
for
your
gambling
addiction,
you
degenerate,
and
stop
throwing
your
money
away.
For
everyone
else,
an
occasional
lottery
ticket
is
harmless
and
is
a
fun
little
escape
from
reality.
For
that
purpose,
it’s
a
bargain
too.
Two
dollars
is
a
small
price
to
pay
in
return
for
license
to
fantasize
for
a
few
fleeting
moments
about
what
it
might
be
like
to
be
perhaps
almost
half
as
rich
as
Scott
Bessent.
What
else
are
you
realistically
going
to
spend
those
two
dollars
on?
Like
a
quarter
of
a
delicious
Starbucks
white
chocolate
mocha
that’s
going
to
slowly
give
you
diabetes?
The
IRA
contribution
limit
for
2026
is
$7,500.
If
you’re
already
well-off
enough
to
be
meeting
that
cap
(or
contributing
the
equivalent
to
some
other
form
of
retirement
account),
playing
the
lottery
now
and
then
is
not
going
to
change
that.
On
the
other
hand,
if
you
are
not
currently
saving
anything
at
all
for
retirement,
giving
up
on
the
lottery
is
also
not
going
to
change
that.
No
one
in
the
real
world
is
choosing
between
adequately
funding
a
brokerage
account
and
playing
the
lottery.
I
guess
it
makes
sense
though
that,
as
someone
who
won
the
lottery
of
life,
Bessent
wouldn’t
understand
people
in
the
real
world.
Jonathan
Wolf
is
a
civil
litigator
and
author
of Your
Debt-Free
JD (affiliate
link).
He
has
taught
legal
writing,
written
for
a
wide
variety
of
publications,
and
made
it
both
his
business
and
his
pleasure
to
be
financially
and
scientifically
literate.
Any
views
he
expresses
are
probably
pure
gold,
but
are
nonetheless
solely
his
own
and
should
not
be
attributed
to
any
organization
with
which
he
is
affiliated.
He
wouldn’t
want
to
share
the
credit
anyway.
He
can
be
reached
at [email protected].